Silence. You can get some of that here, especially at night (unless someone is busy baling). A lot of us are either not used to or can in a way be afraid of silence. I find silence to be a good environment for gaining clarity and perspective.
Unfortunatelly, I chose to drown out and polute this environment with noise of one kind or other - when you're on your Pat Malone the TV can sadly act as a substitute for actual human interaction, which is one of the reasons I've decided to not use it in the time before heading off. It wasn't my idea to get one anyway but a 'gift' from Dad, who likes to watch/fall asleep in front of it at my place as well as his own. I'll admit they are good at delivering information and entertainment, but as for myself I don't know when to turn the infernal thing off.
I remember one past national president of Australian Junior Chamber telling a group of us six or so years ago that he hadn't had a TV for a couple of years and wouldn't have another one again. What with going between Australian and French territory it took him 6 months before he found out Shirley Strachan had died (and if he'd never seen any TV at all he might have asked, "Shirley who?"), but it didn't affect him terriblly not knowing the most current events. I don't think anyone can reasonably say that TV quality has gotten better since then, either (even if we leave aside Big Bogan and the rest of the reality garbage). The only current affairs programme that has any skeric of credibillity is The 7:30 Report, but one has to take Kerry's ever-so-slight leanings toward his former boss into account. At least Kerry doesn't expose Australia's biggest love rat, which I've seen twice out of the last three time I've been foolish enough to tune in to A Current Affair. Considering this and the blatant cross promotion from the commercial news programmes, as well as the useless guff meant to appeal to the lowest common denomenator and it is small wonder The Chasers (who were'nt that funny until this last season, unless maybe you were a uni student or worked for the ABC) found a ready audience.
As the man said, we can spend a lot of time watching TV like a zombie or we can actually do something.
Well, its around three weeks to go. I think the team is all starting to get a bit more aprehensive - for all the things we have to do before we go as well as the actual trip itself.
So, there you go.
Tuesday 25 March 2008
Monday 10 March 2008
Here's some of what I've been reading lately. It's from Thucidides' History of the Peloponnesian War, book 3#82:
'So revolutions broke out in city after city, and in places where the revolutions occurred late the knowledge of what had happened previously in other places caused still new extravagances of revolutionary zeal, expressed by an elaboration in the methods of seizing power and by unheard of atrocities in revenge. To fit in with the change of events, words, too, had to change their usual meanings. What used to be described as a thoughtless act of agression was now regarded as the courage one would expect to find in a party member; to think of the future and wait was merely another way of saying one was a coward; any idea of moderation was just an atempt to disguise one's unmanly charachter; ability to understand a question from all sides meant that one was totally unfitted for action. Fanatical enthusiasm was the mark of a real man, and to plot against an enemy behind his back was perfectly legitimate self defence. Anyone who held violent opinions could always be trusted, and anyone who objected to them became a suspect. To plot successfully was a sign of intelligence, but it was still cleverer to see that a plot was hatching. If one attempted to provide against having to do either, one was disrupting the unity of the party and acting out of fear of the opposition. In short, it was equally praiseworthy to get one's blow in first against someone who was going to do wrong, and to denounce someone who had no intention of doing any wrong at all. Family relations were a weaker tie than party membership, since party members were more ready to go to any extreme for any reason whatever. These parties were not formed to enjoy the benefits of the established laws, but to aquire power by overthrowing the existing regime; and the members of these parties felt confidence in each other not because of any fellowship in a religious communion, but because they were partners in crime. If an opponent made a peasonable speech, the party in power, so far from giving it a generous reception, took every precaution to see that it had no practical effect.
Revenge was more important than self-preservation. And if pacts of mutual security were made, they were entered into by the two parties only in order to meet some temporary difficulty, and remained in force only so long as there was no other weapon available. When the chance came, the one who first seized it boldly, catching his enemy off his guard, enjoyed the a revenge that was all the sweeter from having been taken, not openly, but because of a breach of faith. It was safer that way, it was considered, and at the same time a victory won by treachery gave one a title for superior intelligence. And indeed most people are more ready to call villainy cleverness than simple-mindedness honesty. They are proud of the first quality and ashamed of the second.'
It seems such a contrast to much of the Bible, but events like the Peloponnesian war went on to form the world in which the New Testament was written. Here's the epistle reading from yesterday, Romans 8:6-11:
'For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is to life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.'
'So revolutions broke out in city after city, and in places where the revolutions occurred late the knowledge of what had happened previously in other places caused still new extravagances of revolutionary zeal, expressed by an elaboration in the methods of seizing power and by unheard of atrocities in revenge. To fit in with the change of events, words, too, had to change their usual meanings. What used to be described as a thoughtless act of agression was now regarded as the courage one would expect to find in a party member; to think of the future and wait was merely another way of saying one was a coward; any idea of moderation was just an atempt to disguise one's unmanly charachter; ability to understand a question from all sides meant that one was totally unfitted for action. Fanatical enthusiasm was the mark of a real man, and to plot against an enemy behind his back was perfectly legitimate self defence. Anyone who held violent opinions could always be trusted, and anyone who objected to them became a suspect. To plot successfully was a sign of intelligence, but it was still cleverer to see that a plot was hatching. If one attempted to provide against having to do either, one was disrupting the unity of the party and acting out of fear of the opposition. In short, it was equally praiseworthy to get one's blow in first against someone who was going to do wrong, and to denounce someone who had no intention of doing any wrong at all. Family relations were a weaker tie than party membership, since party members were more ready to go to any extreme for any reason whatever. These parties were not formed to enjoy the benefits of the established laws, but to aquire power by overthrowing the existing regime; and the members of these parties felt confidence in each other not because of any fellowship in a religious communion, but because they were partners in crime. If an opponent made a peasonable speech, the party in power, so far from giving it a generous reception, took every precaution to see that it had no practical effect.
Revenge was more important than self-preservation. And if pacts of mutual security were made, they were entered into by the two parties only in order to meet some temporary difficulty, and remained in force only so long as there was no other weapon available. When the chance came, the one who first seized it boldly, catching his enemy off his guard, enjoyed the a revenge that was all the sweeter from having been taken, not openly, but because of a breach of faith. It was safer that way, it was considered, and at the same time a victory won by treachery gave one a title for superior intelligence. And indeed most people are more ready to call villainy cleverness than simple-mindedness honesty. They are proud of the first quality and ashamed of the second.'
It seems such a contrast to much of the Bible, but events like the Peloponnesian war went on to form the world in which the New Testament was written. Here's the epistle reading from yesterday, Romans 8:6-11:
'For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is to life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.'
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